BMC blames state Govt dept

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, on Wednesday, washed its hands of the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam and blamed the urban development department (UDD) for the coastal and town planning violations.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, on Wednesday, washed its hands of the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam and blamed the urban development department (UDD) for the coastal and town planning violations.

The civic body conveyed to the state coastal authority that UDD had solely taken the decision to de-reserve the bus depot plot adjoining the society and transfer the vertical development rights from there to the Colaba tower.

The UDD of the state government had issued a notification for the same on March 3, 2006. Under the notification, the state government deleted the reservation for bus depot and included the plot, which was in possession of BEST, into a residential zone.

The Adarsh society was allowed to use the FSI of this plot to build additional 20-plus floors. The then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was heading the department.

According to civic officials, the BMC had no hand in this decision. “The Floor Space Index (FSI) on a reserved plot can be used only for that plot and cannot be used for other purposes like residential building in CRZ areas,’’ said a development plan department official, who did not wish to be named, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Civic commissioner Swadh-een Kshatriya is a member of the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority, but he did not attend the meeting on Wednesday. The civic body, however, has submitted all documents, including the notification, plan copy of the BEST-reserved plot, and a 2-page letter of the housing society requesting the de-reservation of the plot for additional FSI, to the state coastal authority.

Civic officials said the de-reservation and the hiking of FSI violated CRZ and town planning norms. FSI refers to the ratio of the total built up area to the size of the plot it is built on. With the de-reservation of the bus depot land, the plot size of the society increased from 3,840 sq metres to 6,450 sq metres.